As part of our prenatal classes, I attended two classes on healthy pregnancy. The topics covered included the ailments and discomforts we feel during pregnancy and the remedies we can do, proper nutrition, and exercise. Another topic was about the myths versus real risks during pregnancy. Busting the myths was liberating! I found out that:
- In BC, it is safe for pregnant women to eat sushi because our health code requires that the fish be flash frozen. This kills the parasites that are the main concern for people (not just pregnant women).
- It is fine to eat eggs with runny yolks because the salmonella is found in the egg shell. So as long as the egg white has been cooked enough, it’s safe.
- I read on the Internet that green tea shouldn’t be consumed when you’re pregnant. Total myth.
- Sleeping on your back is fine! If the vena cava artery does get affected by the extra weight of the baby, my body will feel it well before the baby is affected in any way and instinct will make me turn to my side, even during deep sleep.
And on and on it went. I’ve heard and read so many “pregnant women shouldn’t blah blah” from many different sources the last few months that it’s hard to know which ones to believe and which ones to ignore. Pregnant women are not as fragile as a lot of people believe! Of course we can’t carry on with everything as we normally do but all the “don’t do/eat” rules are also not necessary.
Just today, I went to a shoe store in the mall and I wanted to try on a pair of sandals with 2.5 inch heels. The sales lady paused, looked at my tummy, and said “you want to wear shoes with high heels?” Both my mom and Ed’s aunt had told me already that wearing high heels may cause a miscarriage (a total myth, btw), so I knew what the sales lady was alluding to. I just chuckled and replied “yes, I do”. When she brought the shoes out for me, she pointed to another pair on the display, a pair of shoes with flat heels, and said that I should wear shoes like that instead. I didn’t argue; I just went about trying on the shoes I liked. I’ve been warned that this is just the beginning, anyway, of people offering their opinions without being asked. It’s a good time as any to start practicing my Teflon reaction to it all.
2 comments:
Oh, is it ever. People have all sorts of opinions that they're happy to share with you once you have a little kid, especially if they think you're doing something wrong. Then again, once your kids get old enough, they'll have those opinions too!
I guess it should be obvious that fetuses and pregnant women aren't as fragile as all these myths suggest, otherwise how would anyone get born in the first place? We're lucky enough to have perhaps the highest standard of living of any people who've ever lived, with the lowest risk of injury, disease, and death in the history of our species. Moms and babies had to survive a lot tougher things in the past few hundred thousand years than most people do now, which is why the vast majority of babies turn out just fine.
By the way, I highly recommend the website and book Free Range Kids, which helps bust a lot of myths about how fragile children are once they're born too, to encourage us parents to let them be children and experience the world rather than hovering over them from infancy through university to protect them from it the whole time.
Thanks for the recommendation, Derek!
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